Thursday, August 20, 2009

I recently discovered a wonderful new idea - "biblioblogging"! Over at "Reading to Know," http://www.readingtoknow.com/, Carrie blogs about her favorite books, and her kids' favorites as well. She's a great resource for reading moms as well as those of us looking for resources for our kids - funny, thought-provoking, with some wonderful video clips and some great guest bloggers as well.

Friday, August 07, 2009

OK, so I rarely post on this blog about anything unrelated to homeschooling. But this issue concerns me deeply, because it affects all Americans' most dearly-held rights. On the WhiteHouse.gov site, you can currently find the following notice:

There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.

Does this concern others as much as it does me? This sounds as if the White House is asking ordinary people like you and me to report on our neighbors and on those companies and charities who are telling us what they believe about the President's health care reform plan. What are they going to do with this information? There is no way this is a Constitutional position for a President or his administration to take - it is a blatant effort to curtail our freedom of speech. Even if you agree 100% that everything the President says will turn out exactly as he hopes it will, can you really support this kind of censorship?

I sent the following email to the link they posted for reporting something "fishy." I hope you will too - and I hope everyone else in America will flood this mailbox with protests, making it clear that we will not stand for this kind of thought control.

I want to report something fishy I found on the web regarding health care reform. Here is the site:

Our Constitution guarantees the people freedom of speech. Asking people to report to the White House when others disagree with the President's position (even if that means posting facts the President happens to disagree with) is a blatant violation of that freedom of speech. The truth is, the right to free speech means people even have the right to post flat-out lies about policy issues; and while I certainly would prefer they didn't, stopping them or even threatening to stop them is a violation of the Constitution the President swore to uphold only a few months ago. Guaranteeing free speech only to those who agree with the government's position is the definition of totalitarianism, and it has no place in America.

I urge you to remove this IMMEDIATELY from your website and ensure that proper Constitutional protections are preserved for the people. The American people love our liberty; we will not stand idly by and allow it to be usurped in the name of "truth." The President, of all people, ought to be defending the right of ALL the people to believe, to say, and to publish what they choose.

Who I Am

I am a happily married homeschooling mom with two beautiful daughters. I was homeschooled myself during my high school years, and have been homeschooling my children for 8 years. I've also been a teacher most of my adult life: I've taught English as a second language, music, speech, literature, writing, and Spanish. Most of my students have been junior and senior highers in public schools, private schools, and homeschool enrichment programs. So my heart is in education, particularly in homeschooling. I read widely, and love to write about what I read and what I think about.